Hull Trains lease second HST to boost availability

Hull Trains has leased a second High Speed Train from Great Western Railway.

It takes the number of trains in the open access operator’s fleet to six, double the number required each day.

The HSTs have been leased owing to poor availability of the four Class 180 Adelantes (180109/111-113) that have been with HT since 2008, and which will be replaced by new Class 802/3s being built by Hitachi at its Italian facility in Pistoia. The HSTs will remain with Hull Trains until the new trains are delivered.

There are no designated vehicles for Hull Trains, and on April 8 (the day the set was confirmed) GWR 43010/020/023/027 were all part of the Hull Trains fleet. None of these are to be retained by GWR once its long-distance HST duties finish in May (see separate story).

The operator introduced its first HST in January, and this was used on Thursdays-Sundays before heading to St Philips Marsh (Bristol) for maintenance each week. This will continue, while the second HST will operate on Mondays-Thursdays before returning west. This means that Hull Trains will have its additional resource available at all times.

HT uses three trains per day, with a fourth on planned maintenance. Should there be a failure, and there have been a number in recent months, its service is badly disrupted.

“The HSTs do not only provide the additional resource which allows us to run our services, it also allows us to reduce any strain on our current Class 180s until the new trains are launched in November,” explained HT Managing Director Louise Cheeseman.